One thing many eBay sellers neglect is to actually communicate
with their buyers – not with some automated ‘suggestion’
system, but with actual person-to-person contact. If you can
be friendly and sound nice, then you can make them think you’re
doing them a favour while you make a few extra sales.
‘I Could Throw In…’
When you receive an order for an item that costs a lot for
shipping and needs some kind of equipment, this is an ideal
opportunity to make a ‘friendly’ extra sale. For
example, if someone has just bought a computer, you could
send an email like this:
“I’m just emailing you to ask if you’d like
a mouse or a keyboard – since you’re buying a computer
from me, I can throw in any accessories you want without charging
any extra shipping. If you’re not interested though,
then don’t worry about it – it was just a thought.”
Note how informal this email has to be. It can’t stink
of sales, or the whole ‘communication’ thing will
be ruined. Would you rather buy something extra from someone
who says “you might as well, since you’re paying
shipping anyway” or from someone who says something like
“our valued customers will also love our GREAT DEALS on mice – check it out!” I know
what my answer is.
Know Anyone Else?
Here’s a simple thing to try: when you thank your buyer,
simply say that if they’re pleased with you then you’d
really appreciate it if they could spread the word. Many eBay
buyers feel like they’ve got a real bargain, and combining
this with good customer service could be enough to make your customer
go out and start writing down your eBay store’s address
on pieces of paper for their friends. If you notice a lot
of orders coming from the same town, then you’ll know
that this technique is working.
Any Problems?
If you contact the buyer a few months down the line to ask
if their product is still working fine, you might find that
they’re having a problem you can fix, by sending a spare
part or an upgrade. This is another opportunity to make a
sale – not to mention helpful for them.
Anything to Sell?
If you’ve just sold them a brand new item, ask your buyer
if they have an old one that they might like to trade in.
They will often be delighted to take you up on your offer,
since they were wondering how they were going to get rid of
their old one anyway. Give them a fair price for it and offer to pay
their postage and you won’t believe how happy they’ll
be – and the chances are you can make a good profit on
what they send you.
When everything is going to plan with your buyers, it’s
nice to be able to spend a while every week leaving them all
big chunks of positive feedback. But how do you make this
feedback the best it can be? We’ll take a look at the
dos and don’ts of leaving feedback for buyers in the
next email.
